"My dear Mr. Croyden," she said, "when you have the Ace, King, and _no more_ in a suit, you should lead the Ace and then the King, to show that you have no more--give the down-and-out signal. We would have made an extra trick, if you had done so--I could have given you a diamond to trump. As it was, you led the King and then the Ace, and I supposed, of course, you had at least four in suit." "I'm very sorry; I'll try to remember in future," said Croyden with affected contrition. But, at the end of the hand, he was in disgrace again. "If your original lead had been from your fourth best, partner, I could have understood you," she said. "As it was, you misinformed me. Under the rule of eleven, I had but the nine to beat, I played the ten and Mr. Dangerfield covered with the Knave, which by the rule you should have held. We lost another trick by it, you see." "It's too bad--too bad!" Croyden answered; "that's two tricks we've lost by my stupid playing. I'm afraid I'm pretty ignorant, Miss Erskine, for I don't know what is meant by the rule of eleven." Miss Erskine's manner of cutting the cards was somewhat indicative of her contempt--lingeringly, softly, putting them down as though she scorned to touch them except with the tips of her fingers. "The rule of eleven is usually one of the first things learned by a beginner at Bridge," she said, witheringly. "I do not always agree with Mr. Elwell, some of whose reasoning and inferences, in my opinion, are much forced, but his definition of this rule is very fair. I give it in his exact words, which are: 'Deduct the size of the card led from eleven, and the difference will show how many cards, higher than the one led, are held outside the leader's hand.' For example: if you lead a seven then there are four higher than the seven in the other three hands." "I see!" Croyden exclaimed. "What a bully rule!--It's very informing, isn't it?" "Yes, it's very informing--in more ways than one," she answered. Whereat Miss Tilghman laughed outright, and Dangerfield had to retrieve a card from the floor, to hide his merriment. "What's the hilarity?" asked Miss Carrington, coming over to their table. "You people seem to be enjoying the game." Which sent Miss Tilghman into a gale of laughter, in which Dangerfield joined. Miss Erskine frowned in disapproval and astonishment. "Don't mind them, Mr. Croyden," she said. "They really know better, but this is the silly season, I suppose. They have much to learn, too--much to learn, indeed." She turned to Miss Carrington. "I was explaining a few things about the game to Mr. Croyden, Davila, the rule of eleven and the Ace-King lead, and, for some reason, it seemed to move them to jollity." "I'm astonished!" exclaimed Miss Carrington, her violet eyes gleaming with suppressed mirth. "I hope Mr. Croyden does not think we were laughing at _him_!" cried Miss Tilghman.